Icebreaker Arktika to be converted into a hotel

The Arctic and Antarctic Museum in St. Petersburg may acquire the nuclear icebreaker Arktika and convert it into a hotel as an addition to the museum, reports the Arctic-Info agency.

One of the icebreaker's decks would be used for the hotel. We need something besides the exhibits to attract people, Museum Director Viktor Boyarsky noted.

Mr. Boyarsky said the Arktika has nine decks and 1,100 rooms. He said the museum would leave the decks, the bridge, the radio station, the captain's cabin and the engine room as they are and convert the passenger staterooms into the hotel.

The keel of the Arktika was laid in 1971 at the Baltiisky Shipyard in Leningrad (St. Petersburg). The Arktika was the first icebreaker to reach the North Pole in 1977, and it was decommissioned in 2008.